Hyderabad, September 15: Main opposition Telugu Desam, Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam and other opposition parties today demanded an inquiry into alleged corruption and misuse of power during the tenure of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, a charge dismissed by his son, Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Two Congress legislators also joined the probe demand with one of them saying that prima facie it appears that there has been misuse of office to benefit YSR’s family members.
“They have violated rules. We seriously condemn this. Rajasekhara Reddy indulged in massive corruption worth Rs one lakh crore,” TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu said.
The media reports claimed that the Rajasekhara Reddy government issued orders of “handing over” limestone reserves of 6,680 lakh tones in Guntur district for a cement start-up company in which the late Chief Minister’s family members allegedly had an interest.
“When we see newspapers, the corruption surprises us. We don’t know what they were few years ago. They are looting mineral wealth where ever it is,” Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi said during his ongoing ‘Praja Chaitanya yatra’ in Srikakulam district.
Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya demanded that the Chief Minister K Rosaiah come out with full details on the whole issue.
Dismissing the allegations as “baseless”, Jagan said in Ongole that a conspiracy has been hatched to defame his father.
“Those who do not like him are making baseless allegations against him. There is a conspiracy to defame him, though 12 months have passed since his death,” he said.
TRS floor leader in the assembly E Rajender demanded that the state government come out with a white paper on the mining leases given during Rajasekhara Reddy’s tenure.
Senior Congress MLA D L Ravindra Reddy hoped the Centre, state government and party president Sonia Gandhi would take note of the allegations and see that wealth is not concentrated in the hands of a few.
Ravindra Reddy had earlier kicked up a political storm by alleging a “scam” in a land transfer from the state-run Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) to a private company when YSR was in power.
“Prima facie, it appears that power was misused to benefit family members. We will take it to the notice of our top leadership,” Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yashki Goud said.
The TDP and the Kadapa MP Jagan’s camp have been trading charges of corruption for several days now.
The TDP questioned how the YSR family acquired huge assets and the Congress MLAs close to Jagan replied that he is ready for a probe into the matter.
–Agencies